• 0 Posts
  • 5 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
cake
Cake day: June 13th, 2024

help-circle
  • Democrats are a coalition, not a monolith. The socialist liberal Democrat in NY is not the same as the capitalist centrist Democrat in Iowa. They have to be electable in their pocket of the country. They’ll both vote party line 80% of the time though, and that’s a far better outcome than what we have now.

    I actually talked to my former congressman the other day, happened to be at a function I attended regarding green energy and sustainability. He said that the conservatives in power called them in, said alright, don’t pull any of the stuff in that’s far to the left, but what are some priorities of yours that meet in the middle and we’ll get them in the bill. He said that they were able to get a few in. All that is to say, even the other side of the aisle wants to work together where they can.

    But the publicly divisive stuff is real tough to do until the culture changes. In some cases the culture has changed > remember when Obama pushed back on gay marriage and Biden was much more understanding? And then the polling showed that people didn’t care so much about it anymore, and it became much less of an issue? It took nearly 30 years from don’t ask don’t tell to gay marriage. The trans issue is likely the next. Keep fighting for it, keep advocating for it, but I’d encourage you be tactful with how you frame it, there are a lot more of those that are allies than you may perceive.




  • Historical consequences of a wealth tax:

    Country Outcome Key Effects Status
    France Low revenue, capital flight Millionaire emigration; investment decline Repealed (2017)
    Sweden Avoidance, offshore assets Wealth moved abroad Repealed (2007)
    Denmark Distorted savings High admin cost Repealed (1997)
    Germany Legal + admin issues Hard-to-value assets Suspended (1997)
    Norway Still active Some relocation; moderate revenue Active
    Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Iceland Similar issues Low yield, high avoidance Repealed

    In other words, it’s just bad tax policy, hard to track and introduces administrative burden, and encourages further obfuscation. Alternative: Income tax reform is a better solution.